Cat Easterbrook

5 surprising reasons to practise restorative yoga

Restorative yoga workshop in York

The set up for a restorative yoga workshop at York Yoga Studio

Restorative yoga was where I started. Due to illness, I quite literally started yoga from the ground up – doing postures where I could lie down, supported as much as possible.

As my health improved I quickly started to incorporate more active poses – standing poses and poses that require strength and balance. It was all good stuff but I never waved goodbye to the restorative practice.

I always had an inkling that there was more to restorative yoga than just good old R&R and my inkling was confirmed in a restorative Iyengar class I used to attend every Sunday.

We would practise with props galore. It would drive me a little crazy how much time we would spend preparing our ‘posture station’ but the efforts were nothing compared to the benefits.

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Yoga that restores – lessons from Iyengar & Matthew Sanford

Rooftop Kathmandu

Rooftop Kathmandu

My first experience with Iyengar yoga was in a restorative class in Kathmandu. The city, with its constant rush and swirl of activity, calls for a restorative class from time to time.

The teacher instructed us to move into child’s pose, balasana. It was a moment of complete relaxation, a chance to let my shoulders roll blissfully forward, stretching out my back and neck from any of the tension that had built up there. My stomach was gently compressed and I could feel the breath in my back in a gentle releasing massage. I could have slept quite happily there, rolling peacefully in the waves of my breath. I moved further into the sensation, my mind slowly waking up to my body. [continue reading…]